


Yang Xiao Long: The Murder of Sienna Khan

by justgottabehonest



Category: RWBY
Genre: Abusive Relationship, Dismemberment, F/F, Murder, Murder Mystery, Mystery, PTSD, Past Abuse, Strong Language, Trauma, Victorian Themes, good dad tai, steam punk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 17:52:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18429104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justgottabehonest/pseuds/justgottabehonest
Summary: Rookie Detective, Yang Xiao Long, must solve the gruesome murder of a once beloved Union Leader. Under the tutelage of her father, she must delve into her old past and scars to bring a killer to justice.





	Yang Xiao Long: The Murder of Sienna Khan

Vale is a city with a sense of drama, it has a reputation of knowing just how to set a scene; especially that of a mystery. The wind blows steady through the street, chilling curious onlookers, and the rain hangs tensely in the clouds. Only when Sienna Khan’s body, covered delicately in a black sheet, is pulled out of City Hall does the water fall.  A murmur tumbles through the crowd along with distance thunder. A stronger burst of wind hits the body and it’s escorts, the cloth billowing back to reveal astonished yet vacant eyes. Vale has it’s flair for the theatrics.

“Control the crowd,” Detective Xiao Long pinches the bridge of his nose. He calls to the Medical Examiner as he gets behind the reigns. “Don’t let the rain get on the body, it could destroy evidence.” The green haired doctor shoots him his trademark smirk, then snaps the reigns to get to ponies on their way the second the body is loaded into the buggy.

The detective surveys the crowd, knowing well that men of a certain kind of sickness can’t help but come back and watch the panic this kind of crime arouses. He looks for men who payed to close attention to the body, to the building, to the crowd itself. He pulls aside trusted lieutenants, giving them descriptions and strict instructions to ask for the men’s names and to be excruciatingly polite when asking if they had any information. 

Tai knew the type well, a quite unfortunate knack for reading the the people. A little too well at times, but, a glass of water in his face won’t kill him; this job on the other hand, might. He pulls his deerstalker down his forehead slightly and ducks back into the cover of City Hall.

He approaches the scene of the crime, a conference room guarded by two of Vale’s finest and a line of white ribbon. He ducks underneath it to be created by Vale’s youngest rookie Detective… that also happens to be his eldest daughter. “Dad,” she calls to him as she stands up from her crouched position, looking slightly annoyed as she struggles to keep her mane of golden hair in place atop her head; every couple of seconds a few locks pop out of her bun and she has to tuck the strays into her own deerstalker, “There were a lot of people here.”

“Yeah?” He can’t help at the pride that twists the corner of his lip into a smile, “Prove it.”

“Coal dust,” she gestures to her trousers where her knees picked up the offending black material.  When she turns and uses her right arm to point to the tables,it hisses and groans out steam causing her sleeve to flair. “And look at the chairs, they’re all covered in it, too.”

“Very good,” Tai nods in appreciation. His daughter had better strengths in reading a room than a person. Not to say he is shabby, but, Yang has the eyes for it. “What else?”

“Our victim didn’t see it coming,” she sighs deeply. Yang beckons her dad to follow him to the front of the room where the head of the conference would sit, and just beyond that chair lays a small stage with a chalkboard. They came upon the chalk outline of the body, along with the blood stain on the hardwood floor of the stage. “Look, see where her head was? See the blood there? She was taken off guard and her head hit the stage as she fell.”

“Not a fun time.”

“And she probably knew her attacker, come here.” Yang firmly grasps Tai’s shoulders and moves him into place just adjacent to the stage. Then, she herself stands a foot where the victim’s feet had landed. “Oobleck said she was stabbed most likely by a long blade before he left.  Considering the hilt left marks on her and the size of the opening, our good doctor said it was probably a sword of at least three feet.”

“Guy’s gotta be overcompensating, not a lot of folks straight up using swords anymore.” He remarks.

“Dad, focus. She wouldn’t have let just anyone get this close to her, especially someone who has a sword.” She adjusts her position slightly. “Okay, now stab me.”

“I hate when we do this.” Tai mutters as he proceeds to mime stabbing his daughter in the abdomen, taking a stance as if he was landing a distance strike. 

“No, she would have scene if her attacker tried a rookie move like that. Try again, but, take steps.”

Tai, again, mines stabbing his daughter, this time lunging at her. The knuckles of his thumb and first finger connect with her stomach as gently as he can manage. He leans over her shoulder, “I wonder if he told her anything…”

“It probably wasn’t anything comforting,” Yang takes his hand and puts it on his shoulder. “Okay, then he pushed her off the blade-“ Tai slowly drops his sword hand as Yang takes a half step back, “-then discarded her like trash.”

“Christ. And everyone here was watching this happen. No one made a move to stop it. Either they were all too terrified or they were in on it.  So, not only do we have to lock up a murderer, we have at least half a dozen accomplices to catch as well. Okay, so after we get our info back on our victim, we go talk to whoever knew her well. Then go over what the uniforms outside gathered on the people I picked out from the crowd and go from there,” Tai looks at his daughter, “Sound okay?”

Yang doesn’t reply immediately, she’s staring at the pool of blood down below her and the outline of the body. Despite her tight grip on her metal wrist, it still shakes as she tries to reign herself back into her investigation at hand. “Yeah, Dad. Sounds good.”

Tai presses his lips together in a tight line. He grabs Yang’s hand a pulls it away from her wrist and starts guiding her around the puddle, “You’ve done great today, kiddo. But, let’s go home and get some rest. We’ve got plenty of heavy lifting to do tomorrow.” He drops her hand in favor of draping an arm over shoulders, forcing her to slouch as they exit the area. Taking a turn away from the main exit to avoid the crowd out front. “Betcha I solve this one.”

“No way,” she shrugs his arm off her. “Since I’ve been shadowing you, you’re 0-3. I got this one.”

He grins back at her, “What’s the bet, then?”

Yang huffs slightly as they step into the rain, tucking more of her hair into her cap. “I win, you do my chores. You win, I’ll bake you cookies.”

“Absolutely not, we both know you can’t bake.”

“Fine,” she thinks another moment, “You win, I let you take Bumblebee out for a night.”

“Deal.”

As the duo detectives head home, the clouds seems to darken more and more. Thunder booms and rumbles overhead, yet, it’s impossible to pinpoint where the lightning is striking. Mothers shut their shudders tightly, merchants take cover in their carts. The only brightness is the blond heads of Yang and Tai.  The city of Vale placing them center stage.


End file.
